NDDC Probe: Honour The President, Attend In Person On Monday, Reps Tell Akpabio

The House of Representatives has urged the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio to honour the President, Muhammadu Buhari by not shunning the invitation to appear before its panel on Monday.

The House had Friday summoned the minister to appear before its panel investigating an alleged financial mismanagement in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) under the former governor’s supervision on Monday.

Recall prior to this, President Buhari Thursday issued stern warning to ministers and all heads of Departments and Agencies of government against disrespecting the national assembly, stating that such actions will not be accepted.

It was on this basis that the House Committee on NDDC stated that it expected Senator Akpabio not to dishonour the president’s directive but appear before the panel in person and not sending any representative on Monday.

“We have not indicted anybody, we are gathering facts. And I’m sure that at the end of the day, we will have a direction of what has happened to the money that belongs to the Niger Delta region,” The Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Benjamin Kalu told TVC in an interview on Saturday.

“We expect the minister to honour Mr President the same way the Minister of Works (and Housing, Babatunde Fashola) honours Mr President whenever he is invited; the same way the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (Boss Mustapha), a very humble, thorough man honours Mr President when the House invites him; the same way the Accountant General and the Auditor General (of the Federation) honour Mr President when they are invited.

“That is the same way we expect him to honour Mr President and attend in person. We don’t want to see the Permanent Secretary on Monday. We don’t want to see his representative, we want him to appear before the institution. He is not appearing before Tunji Ojo or the committee; he is appearing before Nigerians on Monday.”

The House Committee on NDDC is investigating the illegal spending by the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the commission totalling N81.5bn between January and July 2020.